In 1984 Hornsby formed Bruce Hornsby & the Range, who were signed to RCA Records in 1985. Besides Hornsby, Range members were David Mansfield (guitar, mandolin, violin), George Marinelli (guitars and backing vocals), Joe Puerta (bass guitar and backing vocals), and John Molo (drums).
During the 1990s he toured with the Grateful Dead, and released four albums, including A Night on the Town (1990) after which he split from The Range. Harbor Lights (1993) was his first solo album and signaled Hornsby was moving in a new jazz-influenced direction, whilst retaining elements of rock and pop. Later releases include Hot House (1995) and Spirit Trail (1998).
His experimental album Big Swing Face (2002) attracted much criticism as it veered away from his piano-based style. Despite these criticisms, he returned with his next studio album, shrugging off RCA and signing to Sony Music Entertainment. Halcyon Days, released in 2004, saw a return to the piano as the key instrument; this album also became the premise for his world tour the same year.
Hornsby continues to tour with his live band "The Noisemakers", in addition to solo shows and his progressive bluegrass performances with Ricky Skaggs.
In 2007 he released Camp Meeting, his first total jazz album as The Bruce Hornsby Trio, which involved jazz giants, Jack DeJohnette and Christian McBride with whom he made live appearances with throughout 2007.
In March 2007 Hornsby teamed with bluegrass player Ricky Skaggs to produce a bluegrass album, Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby, and played several tour dates together. The seeds for the album had been sown in 2000 when the pair collaborated on "Darlin' Cory", a track on the Big Mon Bill Monroe bluegrass tribute album and then proposed recording an album together. Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby, featuring the duo backed by Skaggs's band Kentucky Thunder, combined bluegrass, traditional country, "a tinge of Hornsby's jazzy piano and a splash of humor" on a spectrum of songs from the traditional to new compositions such as the opening track "The Dreaded Spoon," "a humorous tale of a youthful ice cream heist. The pair also reinvented Hornsby's hit "Mandolin Rain" as a minor key acoustic ballad and "give his cautionary tale of backwoods violence", "A Night On the Town," a treatment highlighting the "Appalachian storytelling tradition that was always at the song's heart. The album ended with a surprise cover of Rick James's funk hit "Super Freak" in a bluegrass arrangement. Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby topped Billboard's bluegrass charts for several weeks. The album showed Hornsby carving out a place for piano within traditional bluegrass, disproving the notion that the piano is not compatible with "string-oriented" bluegrass.
Concurrently with the bluegrass project, Hornsby recorded a jazz album, Camp Meeting. with Christian McBride (bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums). Alongside original compositions by Hornsby, the trio delivered "newly reharmonized versions" of tunes by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, a previously unrecorded Ornette Coleman work ("Questions and Answers") and an early Keith Jarrett composition ("Death and the Flower.") The trio made a series of appearances in the summer of 2007, including the Playboy Jazz Festival, the Newport Jazz Festival and at the Hollywood Bowl.
On January 4, 2007, former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart reunited along with Hornsby, Mike Gordon (of Phish and the Rhythm Devils) and Warren Haynes to play two sets. including Dead classics, at a post-inauguration fundraising party for Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House in the United States Congress.
Hornsby wrote songs for a Broadway Musical, titled "SCKBSTD"; one song from this project, a playful biographical tune about real-estate tycoon Donald Trump titled "The Don of Dons," made several appearances in setlists during his early-2007 solo piano performances. He also composed the score for Spike Lee's ESPN documentary, Kobe Doin' Work, about NBA star Kobe Bryant and his MVP season.
Outside of music composition and performance, Hornsby has taken an ownership interest in Williamsburg area radio station "The Tide," WTYD 92.3 FM, and he has endowed the Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Program at University of Miami's Frost School of Music, encouraging the study of songwriting broadly across traditional genres. Hornsby played himself in a cameo role in the Robin Williams movie World's Greatest Dad, in which Williams' character is a Bruce Hornsby fan.
He has also been honored by piano makers Steinway & Sons with their Limited Edition Signature Piano Series. Hornsby selected ten Model B Steinway Grands to be featured in this collection, each one personalized with his signature. Hornsby owns three 9-foot Model D Steinway Grands himself.
Fields Of Gray
Bruce Hornsby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Before I go to sleep
I come by, I come by
Just to look at you
In the dim light I say
That in my own small way
I will try, I will try
To help you through
There'll be blue skies falling
There'll be bad scenes and bad dreams
In a world so uncertain
Through the clouds it's hard to see
I will grab you and lift you
As you hold on tight and sway
We'll go walking
Across the fields of gray
There's a place I can go
When the world gets me down
When nothing, when nothing
Goes quite right it seems
As I look there I know
Fortune smiles on me so
But who knows, no one knows
About tomorrow
There'll be blue skies falling
There'll be bad scenes and bad dreams
In a world so uncertain
Through the clouds it's hard to see
I will grab you and lift you
As you hold on tight and sway
We'll go walking
Across the fields of gray
When I was younger I saw things in black and white
Now all I see is a sad, hazy gray
Sometimes I see a narrow flash of light
Sometimes I look and you show me the way
No matter what else happens
What the future will be
In a world so uncertain
Through the clouds it's hard to see
I will grab you and lift you
Calm your fears if you're afraid
We'll go walking
Across the fields of gray
"Fields of Gray" by Bruce Hornsby has been deemed as a song of radical hope in the midst of a world full of uncertainty. The song addresses how life can be difficult, and the world can sometimes seem purposeless like walking in fields of gray. It is a song about leaning on one another through the difficult times and how even in the midst of the uncertainty, there is hope.
The first verse describes the singer's need to comfort someone they care about. They look at that person sleeping and vow to be there for them in their own small way. The second verse tells us that there's a place where the singer goes when things get them down, and they acknowledge that nobody knows what tomorrow holds. The chorus repeatedly speaks about bad things that are bound to happen, but how the singer will be there to pick the person they care about back up when they encounter these negative events. In the third stanza, the singer acknowledges that life isn't black and white anymore and everything seems sad and hazy, and even though it's hard to see, the person they care about leads the way.
Throughout the song, the singer defies fate and chooses hope. They persuade the person they care about to come with them across the fields of gray, holding onto them, trying to calm their fears, and giving them support when going through bad points in their lives. In that sense, the song is a message about finding something bright, holding onto it, and it will pull you through.
Line by Line Meaning
When the night lies so still
During silent nights, I observe you.
Before I go to sleep
Before I retire for the day.
I come by, I come by
I visit to check up on you.
Just to look at you
To gaze upon you.
In the dim light I say
In the low light, I vocalize.
That in my own small way
In my meager efforts.
I will try, I will try
I shall endeavor.
To help you through
To support you during hard times.
There'll be blue skies falling
Optimism will fall.
There'll be bad scenes and bad dreams
Difficult, even nightmarish, situations.
In a world so uncertain
In an unpredictable world.
Through the clouds it's hard to see
Clouded in uncertainty.
I will grab you and lift you
I'll take hold and boost you up.
As you hold on tight and sway
As you grip tight and move rhythmically.
We'll go walking
We'll stroll together.
Across the fields of gray
Through gray, gloomy pastures.
There's a place I can go
I have a refuge.
When the world gets me down
When the stresses of the world affect me.
When nothing, when nothing
At times when everything goes awry.
Goes quite right it seems
Nothing is in its right place.
As I look there I know
When I turn to that place, I'm aware.
Fortune smiles on me so
Good luck presents itself.
But who knows, no one knows
The future is unpredictable.
About tomorrow
What the next day will bring.
When I was younger I saw things in black and white
During adolescence, I viewed things clearly, with defined boundaries.
Now all I see is a sad, hazy gray
Currently, everything's opaque and dismal.
Sometimes I see a narrow flash of light
Occasionally I glimpse hope.
Sometimes I look and you show me the way
On some occasions you guide me.
No matter what else happens
Irrespective of other circumstances.
What the future will be
What is to come.
Calm your fears if you're afraid
If you're frightened, I'll pacify you.
We'll go walking
We'll journey on foot.
Across the fields of gray
Through bleak prairies.
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: BRUCE HORNSBY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind